Last Known ActivityCaptain Bruni was one of the men murdered by Japanese troops in Puerta Princessa, Palawan Island, Philippines. The remains of those killed were recovered and interred in a common grave at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.

Prior to the federalization of his tank unit in 1940, then Lt. Bruni served with the Wisconsin National Guard. He'd served with this unit from 1921, receiving a commission in the unit in 1938.

He served as commander of Headquarters Company, 192nd Tank Battalion, a unit made up of National Guard units from Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio. The Battalion arrived at Clark Field in the Philippine Islands in the fall of 1941.

On 8 December 1941, they were attacked by Japanese forces. These attacks continued until until April 1942 when they surrendered to the Japanese. He survived the Bataan Death March and was held as a prisoner of war until he was executed by the Japanese along with 138 other Americans. The excuse for their ghastly murder by fire, bayonet, bullets and dynamite was to prevent them being rescued by Allied forces.

(Details at www.proviso.k12.il.us below).

Background:
Captain Bruni joined the Wisconsin National Guard 28 June 1921, being promoted through the ranks, becoming a 2nd lieutenant 14 June 1938. In the autumn of 1940, he was promoted to first lieutenant when his tank company (M-2 tanks) was federalized. Now, he was a member of the 192nd GHQ Light Tank Battalion which was formed from National Guard units from Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, and Kentucky. The battalion trained at Fort Knox for a year, and then did training in Louisiana in 1941 (Fort Polk), prior to the unit being shipped to Clark AB, Philippines in November 1941. He was promoted to captain upon arrival at Clark.

The unit fought from 8 December 1941-8 April 1942 when they surrendered to the Japanese, and were put into what became known as the Bataan Death March, eventually arriving at Camp O' Donnel.

(Further details at http://www.proviso.k12.il.us/bataan%20Web/bruni.htm). Captain Bruni was shipped to various camps until he was at Palawan where he the 138 others were killed. Note: Several men manage to make successful escapes and tell the tale of what happened, others were captured and tortured to death. Comments/Citation

Note: Remains were returned of those lost in this incident in 1952 and interred in a common grave at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Missiouri.

" During World War II, in order to prevent the rescue of prisoners of war by the advancing allies, on 14 December 1944, the Japanese herded the remaining 150 prisoners of war at Puerto Princesa into three covered trenches which were then set on fire using barrels of gasoline. Prisoners who tried to escape the flames were shot down. Others attempted to escape by climbing over a cliff that ran along one side of the trenches, but were later hunted down and killed. Only 11 men escaped the slaughter and between 133 and 141 were killed. The site of the massacre can still be visited.

The massacre is the premise of the recently published book Last Man Out: Glenn McDole, USMC, Survivor of the Palawan Massacre in World War II by Bob Wilbanks, and the opening scenes of the 2005 Miramax movie, "The Great Raid".
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palawan#The_Palawan_Massacre